http://www.tobacco.org/newsfeed/org/rnc.rss Latest top tobacco news headlines en-us http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000926/el/trail_mix_15.html http://tobacco.org/news/50675.html $3,003 - Value of cigars donated by U.S. Tobacco Co. and Barcardi-Martini to the NRSC [National Republican Senatorial Committee] for convention events. [This graph only] AP Tue, 26 Sep 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20000807/1030884.asp http://tobacco.org/news/48001.html As a sales and marketing show it was a void. Most of the organization's products were hidden. . . Invisible are the senators who killed the reform package on tobacco. . . These influential men have not been kicked out of the Republican Party. Some of them, like House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas, co-hosted with major corporations exclusive receptions for the powerful. Maybe that's where the action was all the time - backstage and out of sight. [This graph only] Buffalo News Mon, 07 Aug 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://abcnews.go.com/onair/WorldNewsTonight/wnt000803_BigBiz_feature.html http://tobacco.org/news/47847.html And last night they did not want ABCNEWS anywhere near them, as they pushed our camera away. “Get back, get back, this is private property,” is all they said. Among those given a prime Four Seasons room by the Republicans was John Scruggs, the chief lobbyist for Phillip Morris. Scruggs and at least 20 other lobbyists for the embattled tobacco company have been all over the town this week, their access guaranteed by all the money they’ve put up to pay for the parties in honor of the same Republicans who may control any legislation involving the tobacco industry. When asked why they contribute so much money to the Republican Party — almost $3 million during the 1997-1999 election cycle — Scruggs answered: “Well, we feel that he [Gov. Bush] has been responsive to our issues and what we have to say.” Is that a kind of legal bribe? “Oh no, we don’t think so, not at all,” Scruggs says. Shakedown? But now even some corporate executives are saying big money and politics, Phillip-Morris-style, have gone just too far. ABC News Thu, 03 Aug 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://abcnews.go.com/onair/CloserLook/wnt000802_parties_feature.html http://tobacco.org/news/47846.html The Mardi Gras Street Fair party thrown for Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., was held at Philadelphia’s Navy Pier on Tuesday. The invitation came shaped as a ready-to-wear party mask which could conceal the wearer’s identity but revealed the names of all the corporate sponsors listed below, as on the invitation, by the contribution level: . . Philip Morris . . . UST The Bandstand party thrown by Rep. Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, and paid for by “secret” contributors was held at the Enterprise Center in Philadelphia and included a musical appearance by Chubby Checker. The record-shaped invitation that admitted the holder into the bash also listed those secret companies, noted below: . . Philip Morris ABC News Wed, 02 Aug 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://abcnews.go.com/onair/CloserLook/wnt000801_gamblingindustry_feature.html http://tobacco.org/news/47845.html “It’s got to be some hanky panky someplace,” says legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, who, along with other college officials, is going on the offensive this week against money and politics. The National Collegiate Athletic Association has come to believe that millions of dollars from the gambling industry has blocked a bill in Congress that would outlaw gambling on college sports in Nevada casinos. “It’s unbelievable, number one, and it’s indefensible, number two,” Paterno says. And what Paterno is talking about is very much on display in Philadelphia. College officials say the anti-gambling bill is being blocked behind the scenes by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, who in public says he supports it. . . Late today, a spokesman for Lott says he’s just been too busy over the last year to meet with Paterno. But already this week in Philadelphia Lott has found time for no fewer than five cocktail parties and one lunch involving big contributors and Washington lobbyists. ABC News Tue, 01 Aug 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://abcnews.go.com/onair/CloserLook/wnt000731_Delay_feature.html http://tobacco.org/news/47844.html It was a multimillionaire’s traffic jam as private jets brought America’s corporate elite and their politician friends to what will be the most unabashedly lavish political convention ever. “There is no sense of shame,” says Scott Harshbarger of Common Cause, a citizen watchdog group that opposes special interest politics. “No sense of outrage.” Behind it all are millions of dollars in mostly secret, but entirely legal, corporate money to pay for the wining and dining of a privileged and powerful few. “We don’t want the press anywhere near us,” says one GOP official. . . It’s all about access and influence and no one is more adept at brokering it than House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, one of the three most powerful leaders in the House, who has collected more than $1 million from willing corporations to give members of Congress the royal treatment at this convention. “I’ve been going to Republican conventions since 1984,” says Sen. John McCain. “I’ve never heard of such lavish treatment for members of Congress before.” . . DeLay’s office says they will never reveal those names because they don’t have to. This royal treatment is possible because members of Congress voted themselves a special exemption for the conventions. At all other times, the wining and dining and luxury gifts from secret corporate money would be absolutely illegal. ABC News Mon, 31 Jul 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=SB965324756809809643.djm http://tobacco.org/news/47743.html The "hidden" money issue at the Philadelphia convention, contends Mr. Wertheimer, is "litigation and tort reform." Three of the 10 largest Republican soft-money donors this year -- Philip Morris Co., Microsoft Corp. and the National Rifle Association -- are involved in high-stakes legal battles. . . Philip Morris has given $618,000 to the RNC. Mr. Wertheimer predicts that big tobacco companies' total soft money to Republicans will climb to as much $3 million by Election Day. [This graph only] The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition Thu, 03 Aug 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://www.washtimes.com/election2000/default-200082211047.htm http://tobacco.org/news/47721.html But the other keynote speaker, Sen. John McCain, left him disappointed. "I think the real John McCain has come forward -- the John McCain of his Senate record, which is overwhelmingly pro-corporate. He had a nice fling in the primaries, where we thought he was a new John McCain, coming off his criticism of tobacco and his support of campaign finance reform. But the way he marched along behind George W. Bush, who he despises for everything he stands for, is one of the great disappointments of this convention," Mr. Nader said. [This graph only] Washington Times Thu, 03 Aug 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2000/0008/03/000803gop_corp.html http://tobacco.org/news/47713.html Welcome to the Republican National Convention, brought to you by corporate America. . . U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Republicans' point man on political finance, dismisses criticism of corporate sponsorship. "WE APPRECIATE the corporations being helpful to us," McConnell said in an interview on Fox News Channel. On Monday, U.S. Tobacco, which has a plant in Hopkinsville, treated Kentucky's Republican delegates and hangers-on to a four-course dinner in one of Philadelphia's great rooms, the Founders Club atop the Park Hyatt Bellevue . . . The event was nominally a tribute to McConnell, a leading defender of tobacco interests, who expressed his thanks to the largely smokeless tobacco company "and all they do for America." (And for Republicans. U.S. Tobacco also sponsored an American Bandstand party with Dick Clark and the Shirelles for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.) . . . The Kentucky delegation's menu included a choice of a large filet mignon or a grilled breast of capon, with an "intermezzo" of grapefruit sorbet. Before dinner in the big-windowed room, company lobbyists were introduced, and there were drinks and free cigars offered in carved wooden boxes. Cigars with "RNC" labels were placed at each table setting, but there was at least one interloper -- a stogie labeled "DNC," for the Democratic convention in Los Angeles later this month. That minor mix-up signaled that corporate interests will also have a big presence at the Democratic gathering Louisville Courier-Journal Thu, 03 Aug 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000802/aponline173520_000.htm http://tobacco.org/news/47694.html A total of 109 companies and individuals served as co-chairmen of Wednesday's fund-raising lunch, requiring them to give or raise $250,000 for the party, but many were listed in recognition of the fact that they already had given that much. . . The co-chairs included Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association . . ; Freddie Mac, which is fighting proposals to strengthen regulation of the government-sponsored mortgage agency; and tobacco giant Philip Morris. [This graph only] AP Thu, 03 Aug 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/000802/pa_infact__2.html http://tobacco.org/news/47681.html The 12-foot cigarette dressed like Uncle Sam which has been electioneering all week in Philadelphia on the mock ``Philip Morris for President?'' campaign trail opened the proceedings with a spirited speech. INFACT has been demonstrating in events at the Convention this week in Philadelphia, contrasting HCA's recent move with continuing attempts by other large corporations such as Philip Morris to buy influence over this year's election with record donations. PR Newswire Wed, 02 Aug 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/08/02/DD92616.DTL http://tobacco.org/news/47671.html Roll Call reports that 14 senators threw a Recess Block Party Thursday, paid for by the following generous sponsors: Coors, Coca-Cola, U.S. Tobacco, R. Duffy Wall & Associates (a lobbying firm) and the Distilled Spirits Council. [This graph only] San Francisco Chronicle Wed, 02 Aug 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/20000801/t000072116.html http://tobacco.org/news/47576.html At a posh restaurant near Independence Hall, Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) threw a cigars-and-martinis bash that packed the house. The call of the free martini drew so many Republicans that folks cooled their heels for more than an hour on a line stretching halfway down the block.      With smoking illegal in California bars, delegates from the Golden State were overwhelmed by a stogie haze as thick as the thickest marine layer.      "I had to take a shower to get the smell out of my hair," Los Altos Hills City Councilwoman Toni Casey said the following day.[This graph only] Los Angeles Times Tue, 01 Aug 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0801-104.html http://tobacco.org/news/47555.html Several civic organizations will hold a mock funeral march today in downtown Philadelphia to protest the efforts of the Philip Morris Company to buy respectability through its contributions to help underwrite the Republican National Convention. Philip Morris has contributed $250,000 to the Philadelphia 2000 convention host committee, and is giving delegates elephant-shaped macaroni made by its Kraft Foods division as gifts. The New York Times has also reported that a Philadelphia street is being temporarily renamed for Philip Morris. The protest march, which will feature Mr. Butts, the Grim Reaper and other images, is designed to remind the public that Philip Morris is the nation's largest tobacco company and should be publicly shunned for its misdeeds, not embraced. "Hosting the convention is a proud moment for our city," said Reverend Jesse W. Brown, Jr., chairman of the Uptown Coalition for Tobacco Control and Public Health. "But there's a cloud over this convention because its organizers have accepted funding from Big Tobacco. The Philip Morris Company tries to fool people into thinking that it is a responsible company that should be identified primarily by the food products it makes, like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. But we know their tobacco products are responsible for hundreds of thousands of funerals every year and that Philip Morris is continuing to market cigarettes to kids." Reverend Brown, speaking for the Uptown Coalition, challenged the host committee to return the tainted money and to remove the Philip Morris name from convention venues. . . "INFACT is asking Philadelphians to join this fight by joining the growing boycott of Philip Morris' food subsidiary, Kraft." U.S. Newswire Tue, 01 Aug 2000 04:00:00 GMT http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000801/aponline021527_000.htm http://tobacco.org/news/47515.html AT&T has chipped in on several salutes, including one Sunday night that had Republicans lining up for hours outside the door of a tavern for a free cigar and a martini. The honoree – House Rules Committee Chairman David Drier, whose panel can affect how bills come to the House floor. . . And US Tobacco Co. honored Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a Senate Finance Committee member, with cocktails and dinner atop the city's downtown Hyatt. [This graph only] AP Tue, 01 Aug 2000 04:00:00 GMT